


One Big Happy Family — *Ty Lee*

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: One Big Happy Family [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Help, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, LITERALLY, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Mai/Zuko, Minor Sokka/Suki, Ty Lee gets some lore babey, Ty Lee is descended from Air Nomads, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, i went to bed 2 hours later than i should've
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: Ty Lee manages to let go of her fear of old friends...and make some new ones
Relationships: The Gaang & Ty Lee (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Ty Lee & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: One Big Happy Family [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011
Comments: 30
Kudos: 724





	One Big Happy Family — *Ty Lee*

**Author's Note:**

> Was this more or less me jumping at an excuse to expand on a headcanon I have based entirely off of Ty Lee's eye color?
> 
> Yes. Yes it was.

Mai betrays Azula.

Azula is _furious,_ and all Ty Lee can do is hope her friend doesn't get burnt to a crisp right here and now. Azula is almost spitting fire ( _is_ spitting _sparks_ — yikes). But Mai is still standing her ground. 

"You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."

Azula's eyes light up with anger. 

" _You_ miscalculated! You should have _feared me more!"_

Azula moves to attack — and in that split second, Ty Lee looks at Mai and makes a decision. 

Azula crumples on the ground. Guards seize Mai and Ty Lee, and another helps Azula to her feet. Azula's eyes meet Ty Lee's — and the bright flame that usually burns inside is out of control. 

"Put them away somewhere I'll never have to see their faces — and _let them rot."_

{★}

Ty Lee expected a life sentence in prison for treason to be a lot worse.

That's not to say it isn't bad — the food is greasy beyond reason, and served in tiny portions that barely tide anyone over until the next meal. The beds are hard and uncomfortable and the cells are really, really cold. 

But it could be worse — they're allowed out in the yard for a couple hours each day, and the other girls seem pretty nice. There's this one group of girls from an Earth Kingdom village who always practice fighting moves in the corner; Ty Lee finally gets the courage to ask if she can join. Within two weeks, all of them know how to chi block. 

There are no benders in this prison; apparently it's a special non-bender prison for minor conspirators against the Fire Lord.That's probably a good thing; a firebender wouldn't last long between the small rations and cold cells, the metal floors would be hell for an earthbender, and the dry air would shrivel a waterbender's skin. She's heard stories of benders isolated from their base element since she was little, and much as she used to envy Azula's power, she's never been more grateful to just be plain old non-bender Ty Lee. 

Then one day, Mai's summoned out. The warden wants her. 

She doesn't come back. Ty Lee fears the worst, but hopes, hopes, _hopes_ Mai's uncle has managed to get her out. She can't bear thinking of the alternative.

{★}

Zuko's coronation is as splendid as he deserves. There's a huge crowd, and a lot of them seem on board with everything Zuko says. 

After he's crowned, and the ceremony is over, Mai pulls Ty Lee into the palace, leading her to the infirmary. Ty Lee's only been here once before, when Azula accidentally burned her arm and Ursa took her inside, treating her arm and reprimanding Azula.

Ty Lee waits outside the room, giving Mai and Zuko a while to be alone; the Avatar and his friends show up, along with Suki, and Ty Lee waits around a while longer so they can have Zuko to themselves. 

Then, about an hour later, the room is empty but for Mai and Zuko, and Ty Lee finally goes in. 

Zuko looks up, and his tired but smiling face is the first thing she notices. Ty Lee can sense that he's happy — happier than he was when Azula brought him home. Happier than he has been since his mother disappeared. 

Ty Lee walks over, sitting next to his bed. Mai's curled up by his side, her arm behind his back. Ty Lee can't help but notice she's relaxed, too. 

"Hi," Ty Lee says, leaning on the bed.

"Hey," Zuko replies his eyes skating over Ty Lee. "Um..." He scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "Do I know you?"

Ty Lee feels her smile drop — does he have amnesia? Did Azula do something _really bad?_

"Of course you do, silly!" she says, trying to keep panic from reaching her voice. 

He pulls that face — the one where he _knows_ something but can't remember it. He used to make that face a lot when they played the Guess-The-Song-By-The-Tune game when they were little. 

Then his good eye widens. She can practically hear the little _click_ in his head. 

"Ty Lee?"

It's then she realizes she's still wearing her Kyoshi Warrior getup. 

Things make a lot of sense now. 

{★}

Security detail isn't the most glamorous job, but it's worthwhile. Ty Lee takes pride in the fact that thanks to her fellow warriors, not a single assassin has actually reached the Firelord. 

That's not to say everything's fine and dandy. The very existence of the assassins, and the looming threat of another attempt, takes an emotional toll on Zuko. He's never been a sound sleeper at the best of times; Ty Lee can recall plenty of sleepovers with Azula, late-night talks getting cut short because Zuko couldn't sleep in the next room over. Azula would mock him; Ty Lee cringes to think about it. About all the times she let Azula walk all over everyone else, and never said anything. 

Often, Zuko doesn't sleep. He might for a few hours, but most nights Ty Lee ends up sitting in his room with him, talking over whatever's on his mind; the newest production at the Ember Island theater, the menu for whatever diplomatic dinner he has to host this week, the new hatching of turtleducks in the garden. Whatever it takes to occupy his mind and relax him enough that he'll fall asleep. Sometimes he still doesn't sleep; but he's relaxed enough that she can go back to her post without worrying. 

{★}

Zuko's friends come to the palace, in time for the height of smokeapple season, a new hatching of fire-lizards, and Zuko's 17th birthday. The first two are more or less inconsequential, except that the baby lizards are _adorable_ and the head baker's smokeapple pie is _delicious._

They're all sitting in the guest quarters, a little circle of candles burning in the middle of their little circle. Zuko's laying with his head on Mai's lap, and Suki's sitting behind Sokka braiding his hair. Toph's bending a chunk of what looks like some kind of black metal into little statues of each of them, and Aang and Katara are sitting so close they may as well be conjoined twins. 

Ty Lee's laying on her stomach, facing the center of the circle, and watches the candle flames flicker in time with Zuko's and Aang's breathing. The conversation going on is one she's not a part of, on bending techniques; then Aang speaks, and the topic takes a dark twist. 

"I wish I could find some airbending scrolls — I mastered the art, but there's gotta be techniques I didn't learn," he says. "It's a shame all the scrolls got burnt. It's best to just learn from a person, but..."

There's a silence, and Aang doesn't have to finish his sentence. Ty Lee can feel the tension from everyone in the room, and the awkward glances toward Zuko don't help to diffuse it. 

Finally the Firelord _himself_ takes up the task of breaking the silence. "Ty Lee, wasn't there a rumor about your mom being descended from an Air Nomad?"

Every head in the room (except Toph's) swings toward Ty Lee. Aang's eyes are bigger than dinner plates. 

"Well, sort of," Ty Lee answers, shifting to a sitting position. "It's a little complicated."

"I'd love to hear about it," Aang says, giving her the "guppy-puppy-eyes" look. Great. Now she _has_ to tell it. She clears her throat, searches her memory, and begins the story.

"A long time ago, when my great-great-grandfather, Kazuo, was a teenager, he was out tending the koala sheep herd his family owned, near the mountains at the northern border," she starts. Mai and Zuko both know the story, but the others all look captivated.

"It was getting late, and he was about to head home, when he heard crying in a cave at the foot of the mountain. Curious, he went to investigate — and found a girl hiding in the cave. She wasn't much older than he was, but she was really skinny. She looked like she'd been there a while — her clothes were threadbare, and all she had with her was a woven basket with some fruit in it. 

"He took her home to his parents, who wanted to know who she was. She wouldn't tell them anything, except her name was Jesa and she had lived in the mountains. When Kazuo's parents said they'd take her home, she said, 'You can't take me back, and I can't go back.' She wouldn't tell them anything else.

"Kazuo's parents let her stay. They noticed over time she was different from the people in the village; her eyes were grey, where most of the villagers' were brown or golden. She wasn't a bender, but she insisted on meditating daily. 

"Jesa eventually moved in with Kazuo's neighbors, whose only son had married and left home. She and Kazuo were close friends, and over time they fell in love and got married. And when their first child was born, he had the same grey eyes as Jesa." 

Ty Lee finishes the story, looking around at the group. "They never knew for sure, but Kazuo wrote in his diaries that his parents thought Jesa might have come from an Air Temple — there had been rumors of one in the northern mountains for years. And now we know that one for sure exists, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility."

"But why would an Air Nomad leave her temple?" Katara asks. "And why wouldn't she be able to go back?" She looks at Aang, who scratches his head. 

"If she wasn't a bender, maybe she left because of that," he suggests. "Non-benders were almost unheard of among Air Nomads, and almost all of us had _some_ control over air, that could be expanded with practice. I never met one that _wasn't_ a bender. Maybe that's why she left — she felt outcast and treated differently." He looks ashamed before continuing, "That's why _I_ left."

Ty Lee grimaces with sympathy. "Maybe there were so many people there, she felt robbed of individuality and left because of that." She looks down, picking at her nails. "Guess she passed the trait down..."

"Maybe she just didn't like the food," Sokka says before anyone else can say something sad. Katara smacks him over the head with water, and pretty soon everyone's laughing (except Mai, who cracks a smile before returning to her perusal of every individual strand of Zuko's hair). Ty Lee smiles, laying down on her stomach and looking around. Aang's now arguing with Sokka over the merits of vegetarianism, Toph's chucking pebbles at Zuko when he's not looking, and Suki's moved away from Sokka to valiantly guard the Firelord. 

Ty Lee smiles. It's been a long time since she's just had _friends,_ rather than _allies_ or _co-workers._ It feels really, really nice. No fear, no backstabbing, no thinly veiled threats and insults. No competition for attention. Just love. 

Ty Lee thinks she could get used to this. 


End file.
